When Xiao Yiqing crossed Hebei and returned to Yuzhou, Han Qian was in the Tiger Prison.

At this time, the Tiger Prison Pass has completed the initial repair, and the city defense system is perfected, even if Shen Peng is transferred to the Xuzhou marching army sequence, Chen Kun only led 5,000 elites to garrison the Tiger Prison Pass, and he is not afraid that the enemy army can knock on the gate of the Tiger Pass.

The focus of defense east of Yiheluo this spring is to repair the defense village to the mouth of the Yiluo River, and at the same time to advance the defense line of the naval army to the mouth of the Yiluo River, and the follow-up will also focus on repairing the embankment on the south bank of the Yu River east of the mouth of the Yiluo River, so as to achieve the goal of completely rejecting the enemy from Heluo.

"Wuji can capture Chenqiao Village so decisively, it really makes me overjoyed, Xiao Yiqing hurriedly went south to meet Liang Shixiong, but they only had more than 20,000 remnants of the army left in Xingyang, whether to defend or flee, maybe they are still muttering in their hearts......" Han Qian held Zhao Ting'er's hand and climbed to the head of the tiger prison pass.

"I've always been worried that Wuji doesn't have enough experience in commanding a large army to fight, and I haven't been thoughtful enough, so I haven't slept well these days......," Zhao Ting'er said.

After Zhao Ting'er arrived in Luoyang, he rarely accompanied Han Qian out of Luoyang to inspect military affairs, and this time he was really worried about the battle situation of the Xuzhou army, so he followed Han Qian to the Tiger Prison Pass; At least I can know the battle situation in Chen Qiaozhai faster, and now a heart hanging in my throat has finally fallen.

Han Qian smiled slightly, remembering that when Zhao Wuji followed him, he was only a stubborn young man who was only fourteen years old and killed people with a bow because of injustice, and said to Zhao Ting'er with a smile: "When Wuji opened up the territory along the canal in Xuzhou to the south, it seemed that he only encountered the resistance of more than a hundred people, and the largest was only a few hundred people, but the situation was far more complicated than imagined. He already had the ability to take charge of himself at that time, but I needed someone I trusted enough to be around, so I never let him go out to lead the army independently. ”

Chen Kun received a letter and newspaper, handed it over and said to Han Qian: "Your Majesty, it was indeed Xiao Yiqing who returned to Mengzhou in the huddle of Hu Wei just now......

Han Qian glanced at the letter, smiled at Feng Yi, Gu Qian, Han Yuanqi, Zhou Daoyuan and others who accompanied him to inspect military affairs at Tiger Prison Pass again, and asked, "Guess what, what kind of mood will Xiao Yiqing feel when he returns to Mengzhou at this time?" ”

"With the ability of Xiao Yiqing and Liang Shixiong, at this time, you should also be able to see that Jun Shang wants to seek Xingyang this year. As far as Xiao Yiqing's position is concerned, he must be counting on Liang Shixiong and Zhu Rang to be able to hold Xingyang regardless of the cost; However, for Liang Shixiong and Zhu Rang, it is better to be able to easily hold Xingyang, but seeing that we have forced tens of thousands of elites from the east and south lines, and have the determination to not return the army to Xingyang, they will not have the will to die - after all, for the Eastern Liang army, Xingyang is not a place they must defend! Feng Yi said with a smile, "As the gentleman said, it is not difficult for Xiao Yiqing to guess Liang Shixiong's thoughts, and when he returns to Mengzhou by boat at this time, his heart is naturally mixed." And since the situation is already clear, it is better to directly spread the matter of Jun Shang's determination to capture Xingyang and completely annihilate Liang Shixiong's troops before entering the winter, or it may further disturb the morale of the enemy's generals......"

Han Qian looked at the Yu River, which was congested with ice.

At this time, it was the flood season of the Yu River, and in the Yu River in the north of Luoyang, the thick river ice had just begun to melt, but it had not completely melted.

The river water in the upper reaches has risen, and it can't wait to break the river ice in many places, but the broken river ice cannot be discharged downstream, and it has accumulated to form a series of uplifted ice dams, further aggravating the congestion of the river.

The water from the upstream mixed with the broken ice floe could not be discharged downstream, so it had to rampage into the low-lying areas on both wings, even destroying the dikes and invading fields and villages.

Although the ice north of Xingyang looked fairly intact, Chen Kun and Wen Bo had ordered the suspension of their generals' operations across the river or the transportation of supplies ten days earlier in case anything changed.

Xiao Yiqing, as such an important figure as Mengwu, still crossed the river directly on the ice at this time, which can be said to be quite a risky behavior; And this can also show Xiao Yiqing's anxious mentality about the current situation.

"I'd rather Liang Shixiong be able to defend Xingyang City, and we can completely annihilate Liang Shixiong's troops in this battle, and put Liang Shixiong under Xingyang City, and we can also comfort Brother Zhu Yu's spirit in the sky." Han Qian sighed lightly and said.

"Your Majesty, Chen Kun has nothing else to ask for, I just hope that when the final attack on Xingyang City, Chen Kun can personally lead an elite team to kill the city first, so that Liang Shixiong, the dog thief, has a chance to escape!" Chen Kun asked angrily.

In order to complete the preparations for the attack on Xingyang, first of all, Zhao Wuji must be able to capture Mixian as soon as possible, and the soldiers and horses will approach the city of Xingyang from the southern front, and at the same time, the elite of the naval brigade will be able to cut off the communication between Xingyang and Mengzhou on the north bank of the Yu River.

After doing these two steps, the final preparations before attacking Xingyang will be almost completed, but as long as Xingyang City is not surrounded by water, even if Xingyang City can be captured in the end, the possibility of catching Liang Shixiong is not high.

It almost takes the first elite to enter the city to fight, and at the beginning of the city, they directly target to capture or kill Liang Shixiong, so that there is a greater probability that Liang Shixiong will not escape.

Of course, capturing Xingyang City is the most fundamental core battle goal, Chen Kun, as the main general of the Tiger Prison Pass, wants to personally lead the elite to be the first to enter Xingyang City to capture Liang Shixiong, so he naturally has to get Han Qian's permission.

"When Wuji captures Mixian and Linjiang, they blockade Yuhe, and when the conditions for the final attack on Xingyang City are really ripe, let's discuss the arrangements for attacking Xingyang City." Han Qian patted Chen Kun's shoulder and said.

Taking the lead in attacking the elite city is the most risky, not to mention that after entering the city, you have to bite Liang Shixiong's descendants in the chaos to chase and kill? Han Qian didn't want to directly refuse Chen Kun's invitation to fight, nor did he want to really come to the last moment to capture Xingyang City, just to capture Liang Shixiong and let him take such a big risk.

The atmosphere was a little gloomy, and Feng Yi diverted the topic and said: "In another five or six days, the river ice will completely melt, and then our naval warships will be able to enter the Yu River from the mouth of the Yiluo River, and it is time for the Mengzhou naval army to teach me the majestic posture of the Daliang naval warships......"

The Xuzhou army captured Chenqiaozhai, but the passage south of Chenqiaozhai to Changge County is narrow, and there is no risk of flooding in the flood season.

At the same time, although the goal of the Luoyang Navy this spring was to ensure that not a single enemy ship could invade the Yiluo River, it would never be a simple defense, but would gradually compete with the Mengzhou Navy for control of the Yu River waterway east from the mouth of the Yiluo River to Wuzhi.

And with the subsequent construction of new warships and the suppression of the warships of the Mengzhou Navy on the north bank of the Yu River, it was impossible to receive reinforcements from Xingyang on the south bank, so it had the conditions for the final attack on Xingyang.

Now it is necessary to excavate an artificial lake on the west side of the Tiger Prison Pass and build a naval camp, so that when they see the Yuzhou naval army dispatched, they can dispatch the naval warships at the fastest speed nearby, suppress the warships of the Yuzhou naval army on the north bank, unable to go south, and attack the enemy's naval camp facilities along the river nearby.

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Xiao Yiqing rushed to Mengzhou, and Zhao Mengji, the mood was extremely heavy, seeing Zhao Mengji and the deputy general Xiao Siqing and others out of the city to greet him, he didn't say much, but surrounded by many cavalry, the cavalry first went to Zhao Mengji's Mengzhou Assassin Mansion.

"Han Qian should be in the Tiger Prison Pass at this time!"

After the Heluo War, Lu Qingxia did not go to Taiyuan directly with Wusu Dashi and Xiao Yiqing, but got the permission of Wusu Dashi, and stayed in Mengzhou with Yao Xishui and others to rebuild the Late Red Mansion.

Of course, the Late Red Mansion is not only a palace and a palace, but also a spy agency subordinate to the Privy Council of the Great Mengnan Academy, which is to re-recruit children for training, spy on intelligence for the Mughal Vultures, and monitor the movements of Hedong, Guanzhong, and Heshuo.

Xiao Yiqing also had high hopes for them, and did not put the Evening Red Mansion directly under Wang Jingrong.

It is precisely because Mengzhou is too important, and at the same time, in order to facilitate the spying on the military situation in Luoyang, Xiao Yiqing made Lu Qingxia stay in Mengzhou to rebuild the Late Red Mansion, and at the same time made Zhou Yuan serve as the deputy secretary of the Taifu Temple of the Southern Yuan and led the Mengzhou Gongcao to join the army, presiding over the construction of Mengzhou and the construction of ships.

Zhou Yuan didn't seem to have any conspicuous merits in the Chu court, and he served as a waiter in the Ministry of Works before the palace change, but he failed to enter the political hall, but he defected to the Mengwu people, and he wanted to find a person in Heshuo, Hedong and other places, who was more skilled in crafting things than him, and he might not be able to make up a hand.

Whether it is Wang Jingrong in Dingzhou or Xiao Yiqing in Yanyun, they initially obtained the latest engineering skills in Xuzhou from the Late Red Mansion, and Zhou Yuan was in Xinchang Mansion, and even later served as a waiter in the Ministry of Works in Chuting......

Lu Qingxia and Yao Xishui were unwilling to appear in front of the world with their true faces at this time, their faces were covered with black veils, and they each had a jujube red horse to welcome Xiao Yiqing into Mengzhou City, but on the way into the city, they reminded Xiao Yiqing that Han Qian was in the Tiger Prison Pass at this time.

Although there is no way for the scout dark pile to penetrate deeply, Han Qian's carriage and horse and ceremonial drive into the Tiger Prison Pass are still quite distinctive, and Lu Qingxia still has a basic understanding of Han Qian's general movements in the Heluo area.

Xiao Yiqing just sighed lightly, Han Qian was in the Tiger Prison Pass at this time, always paying attention to the changes in the situation in Xingyang, which only further proved that his previous guess was correct.

Zhu Rang may not be willing to send more reinforcements to defend Xingyang, and it is inconvenient for him to directly send troops and horses from the north bank to cross the river to the south, the only thing he can do is to ensure that when the Liang army starts to attack Xingyang, Zhao Mengji can reinforce Xingyang on the south bank at any time in Mengzhou.

Of course, this requires the Mengzhou Navy to have stronger combat effectiveness.

Although before the winter of last year, the Mengzhou Navy still had an absolute advantage on the Yu River, but now that a winter has passed, Xiao Yiqing is really uncertain how much advantage the Mengzhou Navy can maintain.

Even if Zhao Mengji and other generals still maintain a relatively optimistic attitude, Xiao Yiqing is not sure whether it will be possible for the Mengzhou Navy to continue to maintain a relative advantage on the Yu River until the autumn of this year.

And once the Mengzhou Navy is on the Yu River, in the face of the newly formed Luoyang Navy loses its advantage, and is even suppressed on the north bank, which means that during the long-term non-ice period of nearly ten months every year, the connection between Mengzhou and Xingyang will be severed.

In the future, not to mention sending troops to reinforce Xingyang, how to transport the grain and grass of the more than 25,000 defenders in Xingyang at this time will be very problematic - Liang Shixiong is currently facing the superior Liang army on the east and south flanks, and his troops can only hold the two cities of Xingyang and Mixian, losing control of the vast rural areas outside the city, and the grain and straw of up to 20,000 stone per month can only be transported into Xingyang City from Wuzhi through the river.

Although the Luoyang Navy was newly formed, and the Luoyang government-run Yique Shipyard only succeeded in building its first warship in the middle of last year, it was a big mistake to think that the Luoyang Navy was vulnerable to a single blow.

No one can deny that Liang Chu was able to reach a peace agreement in the end, and the most direct and crucial point was that Han Qian had an overwhelming naval force on the Yangtze River, which finally forced Chu Ting to choose to compromise.

Although the waterway was impassable, Han Qian was unable to transfer the Jianli warship under the jurisdiction of the Nannei Shifu into the Yu River, but the Liang army definitely did not lack the most intelligent and familiar shipbuilders in the world, nor did it lack the generals and soldiers of the navy who were familiar with water warfare.

How could the battle of the naval army be weak, and the speed of the subsequent abandonment of the warship could only get faster and faster.

It was with this in mind that he suggested that Zhu Rang and Liang Shixiong build the wading weir between Wuzhi and Xingyang as soon as possible, but he didn't want Zhu Rang and Liang Shixiong to ignore his suggestion.

In the final analysis, Xingyang is not a must-defend place for the Eastern Liang army, and they are unwilling to tilt their limited resources towards Xingyang.

Before he unconsciously arrived at the Mengzhou Assassin Mansion, thinking of these things, Xiao Yiqing let the horses take away, turned his head to look at Zhou Yuan, and asked about the trial production of the new warship.

Zhou Yuan felt a little bitter and didn't know how to reply to Xiao Yiqing's words.

Because natural bent wood is rare to make ship ribs, and large pointed bottom boats, in addition to a large log for keel, inevitably need a large number of ribs to strengthen the structure of the hull.

For a long time, Xuzhou directly used stainless iron castings to replace natural bent wood to make ship ribs.

The rows of oars sold by Xuzhou to the Right Longwu Army are also a combination of iron and wood, commonly known as iron-bone wood-hulled ships, and the structural details in them are clear to Zhou Yuan.

Xiao Yiqing also wanted to build various types of iron-clad warships with fast speed and solid structure as soon as possible to strengthen the combat effectiveness of the Mengzhou naval army.

The Mengzhou Iron Smelting Yard can be regarded as gathering a group of the most sophisticated craftsmen in Heshuo and Hedong, and then repeatedly tried to produce for three or four months, but until now it has not been able to cast a suitable iron rib.

"According to what the concubine has seen, it is not an exaggeration for the king of Longyou County to build an iron cable in Yongzhou to block Weishui and concentrate all the sailors and warships in Mengzhou." Lu Qingxia said for Zhou Yuan.

Xiao Yiqing sighed slightly in his heart, he knew that some things were easy to say, but extremely difficult to do.

This cast a shadow over his heart.

At this time, a team of chariots and horses galloped into Mengzhou City against the cold wind of early spring.

Listening to the ruts and the sound of horses' hooves galloping towards this side, Xiao Yiqing looked at Zhao Mengji suspiciously, and Lu Qingxia said: "Maybe Wang has returned to Mengzhou......

"Oh," when Xiao Yiqing was in Xingyang, Wang Chip, the director of Guanjiang Building and the adopted son of Wang Jingrong, sent someone to Xingyang to report that there was a very important item to present, but he didn't say what it was, and he didn't know what Wang Chip was selling.

Xiao Yiqing, Zhao Mengji, and Xiao Siqing walked to the mansion, waiting for Wang Tuo to come over as they walked.

Soon saw a team of carriages and horses galloping to the Mengzhou Assassin's Mansion to stop, Wang Chip jumped off the jujube yellow horse, handed over to the person behind him to lead, he personally opened the curtain of the carriage, and the four strong men carefully took out a linen wrapped thing, and walked to the Mengzhou Assassin's Mansion.

Xiao Yiqing and the others stood in the courtyard and watched Wang Chip uncover the sackcloth, but it was a remnant crossbow nearly a foot long.

All that remained of the crossbow was the crossbow arm and the arrow slot, and the base, strings, and string opening mechanism had been destroyed.

Seeing this, Xiao Yiqing was taken aback and asked, "This is the new divine machine giant crossbow used by Liang Jun?" ”

"Yes, the Shouzhou army finally captured one, Xu Mingzhen refused to hand it over, I had to buy Xu Mingzhen's men and steal this giant crossbow and give it to the adults." Wang Chip said.

"How much stone power does this crossbow arm have?" Zhao Mengji asked as he stared at the giant crossbow with blazing eyes.

"It hasn't been measured yet, but it can only be pulled away with two strong horses, and Liang Jun uses a special gear winch to open the strings...... Wang Chip explains.

As long as the bow arm is measured, it is quite simple, Zhao Mengji, as a former Shu general, also attaches great importance to the manufacture of ordnance, and immediately carried this remnant crossbow to more accurately measure the bending tension of the crossbow arm when it is fully opened.

After a stick of incense, the guard in charge of measuring dragged the remnant crossbow back and replied: "The hanging stone is added to seventeen stones, and the crossbow arm is completely opened......

Xiao Yiqing, Zhao Mengji, and Xiao Siqing were all dumbfounded, they didn't expect that this new crossbow arm was almost three times stronger than the traditional bed crossbow, no wonder it could shoot a short spear-like crossbow arrow four hundred steps away.

There are many rumors before, and there is no exaggeration, huh?

"In addition to defeating with enough warships, it is hard to imagine that the Mengzhou Navy will compete with the Luoyang Navy on the Yu River." When he learned that Liang Jun was assembling a new war crossbow before, Lu Qingxia did not doubt the authenticity of the rumors, and at this time, Zhao Mengji frowned, and once again mentioned the suggestion she had just made before the palace.

The infantry cavalry fought fiercely in the field, and there were thirty or fifty such crossbows in the Liang army's battle array, which may not pose a mortal threat, after all, such a war crossbow, with a gear winch to open the string, the rate of fire is quite slow, and the elite cavalry can quickly impact its crossbow array.

The fact that the Shouzhou army was able to capture such a crossbow on the battlefield also proved this, but the warships built by the Liang army were fast, and the advantage was too obvious when equipped with such a crossbow to swim on the Hujiang River.

Of course, at present, on the Yu River, the warships in Weishui and the upper reaches of the Yu River are concentrated, and they still occupy an absolute advantage in terms of number and scale.

Again, even in summer and autumn, the water surface of the Yu River is far less open than that of the Yangtze River, and the advantage of the fast speed of the Liang army's warships will be suppressed in relatively narrow waters.

At this time, if the Mengzhou Water Battalion can take advantage of the large number of warships, not be afraid of fighting on the side, and attack with as much fire as possible, it may not lose control of the waterway of the Yu River, and it may continue to maintain contact with Xingyang on the south bank.

Although Lu Qingxia is a woman, Zhao Mengji does not dare to despise such a woman, and seriously thinks about what she says......

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No matter how much Xiao Yiqing and Zhao Mengji thought that their warships and navy in the upper reaches of the Weishui and Yu River would be transferred to Yuzhou to prevent the clamping down on the Luoyang Navy, this year's Lingxun would completely pass in late February, and the water situation of the Yu River would be relatively stable, and the newly formed naval forces of the two brigades would all be transferred to Gongxian County to accept Chen Kun's control.

Although at this time, the Mengzhou water battalion still had an absolute advantage in the scale of warships and naval soldiers, but the naval brigade relied on the fortifications at the mouth of the Yiluo River and frequently fought out from the mouth of the Yiluo River.

A small group of enemy ships wandered along the Yu River, and the sailor warships went down the river, and after approaching the enemy ships at the mouth of the river, they relied on the spring-arm bed crossbow and scorpion crossbow to attack the enemy ships from a long distance; When the enemy ships were dispatched in a big way, the naval warships relied on the advantage of fast speed to quickly shrink into the mouth of the Ilo River, relying on the fortifications on both sides of the estuary to block the enemy ships outside the Ilo River.

In order to do this, in the cold winter and early spring, Han Qian directly ordered to load special shuttle-shaped box boats with sand and gravel mined from the western foot of Songshan Mountain, and use hundreds of slender men to drag them to the river beaches on both sides of the estuary, and then chisel through the bilge of each box boat.

When the river rises and the boats sink into the water, they can be used as piers to erect iron beams, forming iron beam bridges that jut out into the waters of the estuary, so as to ensure that the light crossbows that enter the iron beam bridge can attack every part of the water area of the mouth of the Ilo River.

In March and April, the naval armies of the two sides fought repeatedly around the waterway of the Yu River on the outer side of the mouth of the Yiluo River, and almost 100 warships of the Mengzhou Water Battalion were destroyed and sunk in the Yu River, while the casualties of the Luoyang Naval Army were only one-tenth of the enemy's.

In mid-May, the six newly built ironclad Mengchong warships in Dazhai of Yique Shuiying were also successively incorporated into the naval sequence, which made the Mengzhou Shuiying suffer a lot.

The traditional Mengchong warship had two to three layers of cabins built above the freeboard, and the bottom layer was open, and sixteen, twenty-four, and thirty-six oars were stretched into the water.

When encountering the enemy, the roof of the cabin can be disassembled, and the sail mast that is easy to be attacked by the enemy ship will be lowered, and the shipwright and sailor row the oars in the bottom cabin to advance and retreat quickly; The upper compartment has crossbow windows and spear holes on all sides, which can be used to attack enemies from all sides.

In addition, the roof of the cabin was covered with raw cowhide to prevent the enemy ship from pouring oil and setting the ship on fire.

In addition to the keel and wedge of the keel and the ship's wedge, the upper cabin roof, bow and side sides are no longer covered with raw cowhide, but directly covered with a layer of iron armor.

At this time, even if there are three or four times the size of the enemy ships besieging it, the naval warships can still insist on fighting fiercely with the enemy on the Yu River, and no longer retreat back into the mouth of the Yiluo River, temporarily avoiding the enemy's edge......